Responses
Katie, 5/27/2003, 10:09:50 PM
Here are some ideas and I also pasted below ideas that were posted last year:
See if your fire department lets groups paint fire hydrants. Ours does and pays $5 per hydrant. You do have to be listed as a nonprofit and you do get messy because it's oil based paint. Watch out for your cars too. Plus you need to have a supervisor who checks to make sure the hydrants are done well or you will lose the contract for next year. but you earn money quickly and it can be fun.
Be sure to have a preview party before the book comes out. We gave away popcorn and chips but charged for pop, candy, nachos, etc and charged $2 admission. the kids got their books two weeks earlier than the others if they came. it was held right after school let out for three hours. It's a great time to get autographs. Be sure to sell yearbook clear cover protectors, extra pages, fancy colored pens, etc. Have a photographer come to take friendship photos and agree to give the yearbook a cut, say 20%, of the sales. Or if you have a great staff photographer, have him/her do it with a digital camera and print on photo paper.
Selling ads really is the best way to make money fast. have kids hit the pavement before school starts when they have extra time and before homework and other school-related activities crank up. do you sell baby ads in your yearbook? If not, start it and have each yearbook staff member responsible for letters of the alphabet and contact every senior parent about the ads. Send home flyers etc. Hit up clubs too for ads.
What about a prom dress resale? have a fashion show and used prom dress sale with 20 percent of the proceeds going to yearbook. Of course, sell concessions and have a modeling of the dresses.
Check to see if your principal will allow a dollar of every activity pass sold go to yearbook. They may have to increase the fee, but it works if most of your school buys an activitity card.
Sell discount cards. Contact local businesses, especially restaurants, to give two for one or half price items to anyone showing a gold card from the school. On the back of the card is stamped the expiration date and businesses who honor the card and for what discount. Make these like credit cards or school ID cards. Many pizza places will do "buy a large and get a medium free" or sandwich shops, "buy a sandwich and get one at half price or free." We sell the cards for ten dollars. TCBY usually gives buy a waffle cone get one for half price, etc.
hold a 50-50 raffle at ball games.
hold a compatibility dance. have students fill out a form of their likes/dislikes and then ask if they want someone matched to them who is like them or not like them.
then tell them their soul mate and hold a dance. Charge 5-10 to fill out a form.
Good luck and see below for further suggestions:
Lily Mitelman, 10/6/2001, 1:55:32 PM
-car wash
-selling candy at your school
-sell candy or glowsticks at school dances
-grams (sell them to the school at valentine's day or around new year's or dances for about $1 each and deliver them with a rose or candy or balloons)
-sell school spirit stuff at school sports events or at school such as bumper stickers, key chains...
-a dinner at a restaurant fundraiser (ask a restaurant to donate a portion of the money they get from people from your school on a certain date to you, advertise the event around school and ask everyone to go)
a great place to get fundraising ideas is from a cheerleader magazine (I know it sounds weird but it's true). They have a lot of ideas and companies that offer those services. Check out "American Cheerleader" or go to their website at www.americancheerleader.com
They have fundraising ideas there.
Steve, 10/9/2001, 10:51:21 AM
Sell ads. Thats how any other paper makes a profit.
It gives the staff a chance to learn more about the business of newspapers.
Get competitive pricing on printing your paper. Make sure you are getting the best deal. After that, decide how much your paper costs and what percentage of space you'll have to fill at what price to cover your costs.
An 8 or 12 page paper with 2 pages worth of ad space can pay for itself and leave 200 or 300 dollars profit. If you do a monthly issue thats 1,800 to 2,700 for the year.
Kris, 6/9/2003, 9:25:21 PM
The yearbook at my school (I'm the newspaper adviser) does great business selling "baby ads." Parents of graduating seniors buy a block of space in which to include a baby picture of the grad and a short message. All baby ads are the same size and format — the photos are the same size, the font and font size of the message is the same, the font and font size of the grad's name is the same, etc. Pictures get returned if the parent includes a self-addressed stamped envelope. Ads sell for $25, I think. The students really love them because it's become tradition for parents to surprise their children with the photo and message. It's certainly worth a try and it's a yearly fundraiser you can leave with all the staffs that come behind you. Good luck.
Jacob, 6/15/2003, 10:25:20 PM
Ads. It's that simple.
They give your staff the most money for the least time. There are a dozen different types of ads you can sell, most of which have already been mentioned. That's why I'll try and offer some unique ideas.
One thing your staff can do is have a photo sale. It helps you get rid of all those old prints you didn't use and make money at the same time. When your book is completely finished, sell unused photos for a quarter. You can make over a $100 (I know that's now much), with very little effort.
You could try a unique fundraiser. Look for something that other clubs haven't thought of yet. You can sell everything from scented candles to school supplies to Krispy Kremes every Friday. If you live near a Krispy Kreme store, I'd definitely look into selling them on a regular basis. You charge outrageous prices, and they'll still sell like crazy. For those of you who don't live near a Krispy Kreme store (my apologies), you could still sell regular donuts. Or cookies. Or candy. Food is cheap and usually sells well, espeicially in high schools.
Finally, you could host an annual event called the "Battle of the Bands". I beleive the Westlake HS staff in Austin thought up this great idea. It's a show where student bands sign up to perform. They jump at the opportunity to showcase their talent. And most bands have a decent local following, so you get a good turnout.
You make money by charging an admission fee for audience members. Choose a price that people in your community could afford (around $3-6). If you wanted, you could make more money off a concession stand. Possibilities abound.
Good luck raising funds!
JE
Courtney, 6/16/2003, 12:06:50 PM
The selling of the unused photos after the book is finished is an excellent idea. I'm not sure if you have been to Yearbook workshops yet to get theme ideas, but the last workshop I attended from Jostens had a great idea for the cover and fundraising, however, it requires a little bit of effort. To get everyone in the school feeling as if they are included in the yearbook, set up a stand in the cafeteria and take pictures of the students for $0.50. All the pictures that you take will be placed on the cover, or if you have a tight budget you could make it one of your pages as well. This way, students can be in pictures with their friends or by themselves, for $0.50 per person in the picture. It's a very creative idea and helps get money.
larry, 8/18/2003, 4:04:21 PM
there are some real fun ideas - not stuff you sell - at http://www.fundraising-ideas.org/ - things like a cow drop, goat insurance and things like that. all kinds of stuff.
Steve, 8/19/2003, 3:06:46 PM
I wrote this five page guide as a little "getting started" kit for setting up an advertising program. You are free to download it and use it.
The file is a PDF. It's best to download the file and save it to your computer. You can open it and print it from Acrobat Reader.
I'd like to hear if you find it helpful.
http://www.jsprinting.com/pdfs/advertising.pdf
Ashley, 3/7/2004, 10:18:42 PM
im the EIC of my schools yearbook and we make a killing on our ads space. 215 dollars for a full ad!
